When news about Tenochtitlan (nowadays Mexico City), the capital of the Aztec Empire, started to reach Europe around the time of the conquest by the Spanish Conquistadors led by Hernán Cortés, the city was soon labelled the ‘Venice of the New World’.
Easter Island (Rapa Nui) is famous for its monumental stone sculptures, known as moai. More than 1,000 have been found across the island, and over 95% of these figures were made in Rano Raraku, a quarry on the slopes of…
New research is shedding light on the possible function of a mysterious site in southern Peru.
A new technique is offering fresh insights into ancient tattoos.
Obsidian was highly valued by many cultures across Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, including the Mexica (Aztecs), for its natural lustre and sharpness, which made it a perfect material for both highly polished ornaments and the production of tools. Analysis of obsidian artefacts…
Cave treasures In 2023, two speleologists exploring the Cave of Tlayócoc in south-western Mexico came across a collection of 500-year-old objects. Archaeologists from INAH investigated further, revealing that the assemblage consisted of 14 artefacts in total, including three engraved shell…
Pilgrims once flocked from across the Inca Empire to Pachacamac. But just how ancient and rigorously planned was the layout of the cult complex that attracted them? Krzysztof Makowski reveals the remarkable results of recent excavations at the site
New research is exploring how ancient Pueblo communities in the Southwest United States may have been connected by sound. Chaco Canyon in north-west New Mexico was once a bustling ancient Pueblo settlement, occupied c.AD 850-1150. Among the items found in…
The existence of Rongorongo, the complex writing system used by the historic inhabitants of Rapa Nui (Easter Island), was first documented by Europeans in 1864, but by the end of the 19th century the script had fallen out of use,…
Archaeological surveys in the Carangas region of highland Bolivia have identified a previously unrecognised concentration of religious sites built by the pre-Hispanic inhabitants of the area, including one site with characteristics currently unique in the Andes. The survey identified 135…
Moai are monolithic stone statues with elongated human faces, thought to have been created by Rapa Nui’s ancestral inhabitants more than 500 years ago.
War, Spectacle, and Politics in the Ancient Andes by Elizabeth N Arkush provides a well-organised analysis of the external/environmental and internal/psychological factors that shaped pre-contact Andean warfare. More specifically, the key argument is that Andean conflict was entwined with the…
The study found that the plaza would have been underwater for most if not all of the year at the time of the site’s creation.
Parts of a necklace of nectandra seeds and small bag were also found with the sculpture.
• Spiro: a climate crisis in the Mississippian world
• Hisham’s Palace: mosaics in the desert
• Olympia: monuments to victory (available 27 April on The Past)
• The Museo Barracco in Rome
• Sir John Soane’s architectural drawings
• Exploring ‘trench art’
Vast quantities of artefacts were found in a mound in Oklahoma in the 1930s. Together they tell an intriguing story of ritual and cosmic renewal. As an exhibition reuniting some of these objects travels to Texas, Lucia Marchini speaks to Michelle Rich and Eric Singleton to find out more.
It was considered one of the finds of the century, when – at the height of the Great Depression of the 1930s – a group of American prospectors calling themselves the Pocola Mining Company uncovered a burial chamber in eastern Oklahoma that had remained undisturbed for more than 500 years.
A round-up of some of the latest archaeological stories from across the globe, including the discovery of a slaves' room in Pompeii, a 1,000-year-old mass grave in Peru, and evidence of ancient clothing manufacture in Morocco.
Gillis Kersting explores an international exhibition presenting hundreds of Aztec objects on loan from Mexican and European museums, now on display in Leiden.
Although the Chimú are known to have practised human sacrifice, it is currently not possible to say whether this is the case here.
The geochemical compositions of ‘the John Dee mirror’ were found to match obsidian from Pachuca
To which other land mass is South America believed to have been joined before the break-up of the supercontinent Pangaea around 225 million years ago?
Dee used the polished mirror as a scryer to try to commune with spirits.
Five hundred years ago, the spectacular city of Tenochtitlan, power centre of the Aztec empire, upon which modern Mexico City was later built, fell decisively to the Spanish. The conquistador Hernán Cortés had entered the city in 1519 without much…
Radiocarbon dating of burials from the Inca site of Machu Picchu has revealed that it was occupied several decades earlier than previously thought. The famous UNESCO World Heritage site in Peru is believed to have been built after the Emperor…
The archaeology of Rapa Nui is dominated by the Easter Island heads, but these were just one element of larger ceremonial complexes. Colin Richards explores some distinctive houses, which offer tantalising clues for understanding the celebrated statues.
A leading handbook of scripts and writing that runs to almost a thousand pages, The World’s Writing Systems (1996), edited by Peter Daniels and William Bright, contains scarcely any reference to the Aztec writing system of Mesoamerica. Wikipedia’s entry on…
Excavations in Mexico City have discovered a new section of the Aztec skull rack known as the Huei Tzompantli.
Cuzco was the heart of the vast Inca empire, but all changed in the 16th century when the capital was conquered by Spanish invaders. Michael J Schreffler investigates the Inca city, and how it went from the centre of one empire to the periphery of another.
Buried beneath Mexico City lie the remains of the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan and its sacred centre. Lucia Marchini reports on an exhibition investigating wealth, worship, and empire in pre-Hispanic Mexico.
Long-held traditions evolve and gain new elements with every generation. Current World Archaeology's Carly Hilts travelled to Mexico for the Day of the Dead to find out more.
This is the ruined ahu complex of the Akahanga, which is but one of dozens dotted around the coastline of the tiny island.
Excavations at Pachacamac in Peru have revealed evidence for large-scale pilgrimages at the time of the Incas. Ongoing research is exploring the pilgrims’ motivations and the ceremonies performed by them. Project director Peter Eeckhout describes the discoveries made by his team and how they illuminate our understanding of the biggest pre-Columbian empire.
Alan Outram and Adrien Hannus uncover one of the earliest communities to take up farming on the Northern Plains of South Dakota.
Climate change and water shortages threaten the survival of rural communities in the Peruvian Andes. Robert Early explains how ancient Inca know-how is relevant today.